The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has advocated for the suspension of Nigerian institutions offering unaccredited courses. This call comes in response to the Federal Ministry of Education’s recent announcement on the suspension of the evaluation and accreditation of degree certificates obtained from the Republic of Benin and Togo.
The ministry took this action after blacklisting approximately 18 learning institutions based on an undercover investigation by a Nigerian newspaper, which exposed the operations of a degree mill in Cotonou, a major city in Benin Republic.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Elvis Ekundina, the factional National Senate President, expressed commendation for the Federal Government’s decision. NANS urged the government to initiate an investigation into the operations of the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), and other agencies implicated in fraudulent activities related to obtaining degree certificates from foreign universities.
The student body called for a thorough examination of tertiary institutions, particularly privately owned ones, that offer unaccredited courses. NANS emphasized that such institutions, through their fraudulent practices, undermine the education sector and exploit unsuspecting young Nigerians by providing them with unaccredited courses.
The statement urged the Federal Government to collaborate with NANS and other student bodies to eliminate illegal tertiary institutions, thereby contributing to the improvement and repositioning of the country’s education sector.